ESA ExoMars Rover named after Italian Mars Astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli

An instrument module set to land on Mars has been named "Schiaparelli" after the 19th century Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, European scientists say.

The entry, descent and landing demonstrator module will fly on the 2016 ExoMars mission, a joint endeavor between the European Space Agency and Russia's Roscosmos space agency.

Schiaparelli will make a controlled landing on Mars, entering the atmosphere at 13,000 mph and using parachutes and thrusters to brake to less than 10 mph before landing less than 8 minutes later, and ESA release said Friday.

The module will collect data on the atmosphere during entry and descent, and its instruments will perform local environment measurements at the landing site in a region of plains known as Meridiani Planum.

The module's name was chosen to honour Schiaparelli, who made telescopic observations of Mars, naming what he thought were seas and continents.

He also saw what he thought were linear features on the surface, calling them canali which in Italian means channels, but the word was later mistranslated to canals.

Despite the mistaken identification of martian features, Schiaparelli's work was the first systematic investigation of the Red Planet.

"Considering the importance of Giovanni Schiaparelli's pioneering observations of Mars, it was an easy decision to give his name to the ExoMars module that is paving the way to the further exploration of the Red Planet," Alvaro Gimenez Cañete, ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration (not the Spanish footballer)

ESA Arianespace VEGA Launcher: An Italian creation

The name "VEGA" is an acronym for Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata, which translates to "Advanced Generation European Carrier Rocket." 

VEGA is the new, expendable space launch vehicle now in use by Arianespace, launching from the Guiana Space Centre located in Kourou, French Guiana.

This vehicle is an Italian creation that was jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency (ISA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Although the concept began as a pure Italian venture, serious development started in 1998 after ISA and ESA joined forces. The first VEGA launch took place on February 13, 2012.

The design provides for payloads in the range of 300 to 2,500 kg. This satisfies many satellite applications such as scientific experiments and Earth observation missions.

Orbital destination options include polar and other low Earth orbits. The reference VEGA mission is placing a 1,500-kg satellite into a 700-km polar orbit.

VEGA consists of three solid rocket stages: P80 first stage; Zefiro 23 second stage; Zefiro 9 third stage.

In addition, there is a liquid rocket upper module called AVUM (Attitude Vernier Upper Module).

This module consists of a propulsion unit and an avionics package. AVUM uses the Ukrainian RD-869 rocket engine which burns pressure-fed UDMH and nitrogen tetroxide.

The first VEGA launch about 14 months ago carried several small satellites to low Earth orbits.

The second launch (VV02), scheduled for this week, will demonstrate extended capabilities partially due to the addition of the VESPA (Vega Secondary Payload Adapter).

This will allow the release of three satellites into two different orbits.

Proba-V is the prime payload on VV02 and is the first of four ESA missions that will use Vega. This satellite carries a reduced version of the Vegetation camera currently flying on the Spot satellites to provide a daily overview of global vegetation growth.

The other two payloads are the Vietnam Natural Resources, Environment and Disaster Monitoring Satellite (VNRedsat) and ESTCube-1, a test of advanced solar sail technologies

ESA: Enceladus rains water onto Saturn - images

At least four distinct plumes of water ice spew out from the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus.

Light reflected off Saturn is illuminating the moon while the sun, almost directly behind Enceladus, is backlighting the plumes.

This view looks toward the Saturn-facing side of Enceladus (504 kilometers across). North is up.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 25, 2009.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 617,000 kilometers from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 174 degrees. Image scale is 4 kilometers per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

Credits: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Medieval art goes 3D

May 5 - A new exhibition showing the works of Italian medieval master Giotto, allows visitors to watch restorers at work and to ''step inside'' the artist's paintings thanks to 3D technology. Stuart McDill reports. (01:28)